Friday, January 31, 2014

The past couple of weeks have been so busy. I haven't had time to breath, let alone post something on my little ole blog. This is what we have been up to....

Another co-worker and I hosted a 'Science Night' at our school. It was a huge success, especially since it was only 8 degrees outside! Here are a few shots of the fun.

This week I hosted my own science activities in class. We made our own goggles that we used all week. The sweeties LOVED them.

Monday was color mixing 101. Some of our activities included: hypothesizing what new color would be made by mixing two primary colors together.

The scientist recorded their hypothesis.

We then took turns mixing food coloring in water to see if our guesses were correct.

We then recorded our conclusion on our data sheets.

Tuesday was 'magnify the situation' day. We matched tiny pictures to bigger ones by looking at them through magnifying glasses.

We then looked at all sorts of objects with magnifying glasses to observe diffferent characteristics of each. Finally, we dipped our fingertips into ink pads to look at our fingerprints with magnifying glasses. We identified what type of fingerprint we had and then turned our prints into different kinds of objects, such as animals, people, and vehicles.

Wednesday was 'sink or float' day. We hypothesized about which objects could float and which ones would sink.

We tested our hypothesis and recorded our results on a fishbowl cut-out.

Thursday was 'magnificent magnets'. We hypothesized which objects would stick to a magnet and which ones would not. We recorded our results in a take home book. We used a water bottle to fill with objects attracted to a magnet. The little scientists took them home so they could conduct the experiment at home.

Check out these faces! They were so excited. :)

Whew! We packed a lot of learning in during this fun, fun week!!!

You can find directions, recording sheets and ideas in my 'Sensational Science' pack on TpT or TN.

Friday, January 17, 2014

We learned about penguins this week. I have been trying to introduce more non-fiction books and this was the perfect theme to do so. Of course, we had to read "Tacky the Penguin" as one of our fiction books. We turned our door into 'Tacky the Penguin' to celebrate.

Sunday, January 12, 2014

Last week, we read "The Snowy Day" by Ezra Jack Keats. It is one of my all time favorite books about snow. After we read the book, we made this ADORABLE craft I snagged as a freebie from Michelle Hudgeons. We also drew pictures of our favorite part of the story. Some of us even added a writing element. Big stuff for preschoolers! I am so proud of them. :)

I also created some activities to use at circle time. {I have to admit I kind of have a 'theme sickness'. I love it when my circle time activities match my theme!} There are color, shape and counting activities to go with the book. I named this pack 'Peter's Pocket' for the main character who puts a snowball in his pocket. Click HERE or on the pictures below if you would like your own copy.

Friday, January 10, 2014

Oh my goodness! Am I the only one wiped out this week? We only had three days with the little ones and I am T.I.R.E.D!!! I do have to say I am so very proud of my sweeties. They came back from break and seem so grown up. I think they were ready to be back to school.

The first day back I received some great presents. Like I have said before, one of the best things about teaching are the sweet presents I am given. Check it out..........

I got a wiggle eye, a photo card, and a drawing of a bag and money. LOVE!

Our theme this week was 'snow/snowmen'. We read 'There Was a Cold Lady Who Swallowed Some Snow' and retold the story with items from my pack I sell on TpT and TN. My little ones love the old lady books.

We also read one of my favorite winter books, "The Snowy Day". We drew our favorite part of the book and made these awesome Peter' crafts. I think they turned out so cute. I put the two activities together and this is what they look like.

This sweetie loved it when Peter made a snow angel.

Lots of little ones loved it when Peter slid down the hill. Check out the writing! I had some words on display if they wanted to use them, otherwise they just wrote what they wanted.

I love the string of letters!

I have some great artists and writers. I am in love. :) This is the first year I have incorporated so much writing in our projects. They have exceeded my expectations, by far! You can find the pattern for Peter as a freebie HERE . Unfortunately, I can't find the original source for the writing prompt. If you know where it came from please let me know so I can give proper credit to the creator.

We also made these adorable snowmen,

along with snowman names. You can get the snowman names as a freebie from my TpT and TN stores by clicking on the initials of the store you prefer to use or from last week's post from my blog through Google docs, if you prefer.

Here are a few random shots of our work in progress....

{The most fabulous Ms. Valerie losing the skin from her fingertips hot gluing the 'ear muffs'!}

and these three goof balls being silly while making their snowmen. :) They crack me up!

Here is a picture of my new rolling chair. The idea is not mine, but it is genius! Take a student desk chair, don't put on the back when assembling, and cover the seat with any fabric by stapling it to the underside. How easy is that?

About Me

I teach 3 to 5 year olds in a blended Title One/Special Education classroom. I am blessed to have a job that I absolutely love. My paraprofessional, Valerie, is amazing. Together, we have so much fun teaching our preschool wonders!